Introduction I’m not sure what I was thinking when I requested a review sample of Panasonic’s TH-65PX600U. No, that’s not true. I know exactly what I was thinking: “Hmmmmm, 65-inch 1080p plasma…ooooooooo.” The allure of it managed to push a few relatively important details aside, such as where in my house I would put it and how I planned to get it there. The panel weighs 174.2 pounds – that’s without the speakers or pedestal stand, both of which are optional accessories that cost extra ($600 and $1,200, respectively). Needless to say, this isn’t the type of product you casually throw up on the wall for a short-term viewing period, so I went with the optional stand, which is itself a serious piece of hardware: it weighs about 55 pounds, and its base (48.9 by 16.5 inches) is too large to sit atop my normal gear rack or any other short cabinet in my ...

Introduction Nothing stays stagnant in nature or in consumer electronics. The VCR, one of the last vestiges of the analog world, is about to meet its successor and I don’t mean digital videotape. Personal TV (PTV) is a brand new product category. One of the first units comes from a joint venture between service provider TiVo and consumer electronics manufacturer Philips Electronics. More than just another black box, PTV uses an attractive and intuitive graphical user interface that overlays the TV broadcast signal. It’s possible to record shows and store them on the PTV’s internal hard drive. TiVo can also time-shift material, functioning as your own personal instant replay system. There are two differnet PTV components. For $499 you get a PTV unit capaible of recording upto 14 hours of TV programming. For $999 you can buy a machine with more hard drive space providing up to 30 hours of recording time. On top of ...

Introduction There have been many challenges in rebuilding the AVRev.com reference theater (which I have previously written about and archived for Modern Home Theater how-to features, with more details to come). One of the challenges not discussed is what I was going to do with the living room where my former reference system lived. Removing the large equipment rack thankfully created more space that allowed for the sleek installation of a lightly tinted glass wall. Removal of the floor-to-ceiling, bird’s-eye maple media storage cabinet that housed my Stewart roll-down screen also opened up some serious space. The design challenge was unique, considering the entryway to the new theater, as well as the stairs leading to the new addition, is exactly where my Wilson WATT Puppy right speaker used to be placed – how could you get great sound in a room or, in this case, a series of rooms, including the living room, dining room ...

Introduction Ahh, power amplifiers. Aside from loudspeakers, they are often the most touted products in the consumer electronics industry, and for good reason. Without them, there would be no music. They are charged with a great deal of responsibility and, while they may not look as sexy as some of their counterparts, they are without a doubt the backbone of every system. So, when a new amp is released, especially by a company as reputable as Parasound, one has reason to get excited. Officially launched in 2003, Parasound’s Halo line of components were specifically designed to bridge, or at least blur, the gap between ultra-performance and budget-conscious components. Solid performance at a reasonable price has always been Parasound’s bread and butter, so it was a bit of a gamble when they set out to challenge some of the industry’s most notable, and expensive, players. With the exception of maybe a handful of other companies, like ...

Introduction There have been many challenges in rebuilding the AVRev.com reference theater (which I have previously written about and archived for Modern Home Theater how-to features, with more details to come). One of the challenges not discussed is what I was going to do with the living room where my former reference system lived. Removing the large equipment rack thankfully created more space that allowed for the sleek installation of a lightly tinted glass wall. Removal of the floor-to-ceiling, bird’s-eye maple media storage cabinet that housed my Stewart roll-down screen also opened up some serious space. The design challenge was unique, considering the entryway to the new theater, as well as the stairs leading to the new addition, is exactly where my Wilson WATT Puppy right speaker used to be placed – how could you get great sound in a room or, in this case, a series of rooms, including the living room, dining room ...